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December 14, 2012

FEATURED BLOG

"Memo to Michigan: Did You Not Hear the Voters on Women's Health?" Cecile Richards, Huffington Post blogs: In a lame-duck session, Michigan legislators are sending an "alarming" package of antiabortion legislation (HB 5711) to Gov. Rick Snyder's (R) desk that would make "Michigan one of the most regressive states in the nation on women's health," Richards -- president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund -- writes. She notes that the bill includes provisions that would "likely shut down many health care providers that provide abortion by enacting unnecessary and burdensome licensing rules." Richards calls on Snyder to "heed the message sent on election night: we simply will not tolerate politicians inserting themselves into a woman's personal health care decisions" (Richards, Huffington Post blogs, 12/12).

"In Rehearing Maryland Crisis Pregnancy Center Cases, the Fourth Circuit Can Reverse Decisions That Threaten Women's Health," Kelli Garcia, National Women's Law Center's "Womenstake": Garcia writes that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals can protect women's health by overturning two lower court rulings that struck down laws requiring crisis pregnancy centers to clarify the nature and extent of their services. The two Maryland laws -- one in Baltimore and another in Montgomery County -- were overturned based on claims that they "compelled" CPC's to "speak" via waiting room signs that disclosed the limits of CPC services, including that they do not offer abortion or birth control. Garcia writes, "Anti-abortion advocates, no matter how sincere their beliefs, should not be allowed to use lies to try to convince women not to have an abortion or to delay women" from obtaining an abortion until it is less safe, no longer available or prohibitively expensive (Garcia, "Womenstake," NWLC, 12/12).

Video Round Up

An Interview with Justice Ginsburg on the State of Abortion Access

In a rare interview, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tells MSNBC's Irin Carmon it is a "crying shame" that state abortion restrictions are making the procedure increasingly "[i]naccessible" to many low-income women. Watch the video

Datapoints

A Look at Abortion Coverage in the ACA's Marketplace Plans, Repro Health Report Card, More

This week's charts depict why abortion coverage is unavailable in many states' ACA marketplace plans for 2015. We also feature a national reproductive health report card and an interactive look at abortion restrictions in Missouri. Read more

At A Glance

"[Roe v. Wade] protects a woman's freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters."

— President Obama, commemorating the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Read more